Rotary is delighted to announce that maestro Diego Carneiro, a celebrated cellist and Rotary Peace Fellow, will perform and speak at Heritage Hall in Guelph on Sunday evening, October 4th, 2026 at 6:30pm. He is a musician, speaker, educator, Rotary International Peace Fellow, and president of Amazonarts.org, connecting cultures in 80 countries. Read more about him in the March 2025 edition of Rotary News: “Building bridges between music notes and hearts.”
Preparations start early for our club's annual “Sparkles In The Park” Christmas lights in Riverside Park. On Saturday, October 17th, volunteers are needed to cheerfully unravel, test and sort hundreds of light strings that were taken down and bundled into storage tubs during the freezing cold of the previous January 1st. Our ritual of “many hands make light work” is truly joyful and the best kind of fellowship!
Just three weeks after holding their 39th Annual Rotary Duck Race on August 28, 2026, the Rotary Club of Guelph Wellington held their prizegiving on September 21st. The event's success this year was best ever and remarkable for a club of just nine members. All proceeds have been donated to the community. (See below) We warmly congratulate and thank our friends at the Rotary Club of Guelph Wellington for their positive impact and support of local youth. Onward and upward to the 40th Rotary Duck Race in 2027!
This year, The Grove Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) Wellington-Guelph is celebrating five years of making mental health, substance use, and wellness supports accessible, barrier-free, and available at no cost to youth across rural Wellington County.
Each year, our sister club, the Rotary Club of Guelph Trillium, runs a winter clothing drive. Here are the details for the 2026 drive.
On September 10, 2026, three Guelph Rotary Clubs joined forces once again to host another successful Community Connections meeting with over 50 participants in attendance. This free event invites charities and non-profits to gather for a couple of hours to learn what other agencies are working on in the community, to share ideas and to encourage collaboration. The event is offered twice a year, in April and September. It is a great example of Rotary providing Service Above Self to our local agencies.
August 28, 2026. Right now, over 123 million people around the world have been made homeless by disaster and conflict. The Rotary-inspired global program of ShelterBox is working to change this. By providing emergency shelter and tools for families robbed of their homes by disaster, ShelterBox helps transform despair into hope. Read the update below from our RotaryGuelph ShelterBox Representative, Carolyn Weatherson.
On August 14, 2026 the Rotary Club of Guelph inducted two new members - Dhruv Shah and Jim Rooney. Both have incredible track records for making a difference in the world, and we feel very fortunate to have them join our club. Dhruv spoke warmly about the gift of connection that Rotary provides and he looks forward to collaborating with Rotary on Guelph 200. For Jim, it is “welcome back to Rotary” because he was previously a member of our club for 20 years from 1973 to 1993 before work and family took priority. Jim is proud to once again wear a Rotary pin, and spoke of how Rotary's 4 Way Test has served him as an anchor throughout his life and endeavours. Read more below.
On August 17, 2026 the “Top 7 Over 70” award winners for 2026 were announced by United Way Guelph Wellington … and four are Rotarians! We send our warmest congratulations to our fellow Rotarians:
Jim Rooney - from Rotary Guelph
